Page 262 - (DK) Smithsinian - Military History: The Definitive Visual Guide to the Objects of Warfare

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KEY DEVELOPMENT KEY EVENTS
AND IMPERIALISM 1815–1914
STEAM, IRONCLADS, AND 1800–1950

◼ 1841 An iron-hulled steam-
THE FIRST BATTLESHIPS powered gunboat, Nemesis, plays
a key role in the British defeat of
China in the First Opium War.
◼ 1853 Making the first use of
In the century between the Napoleonic Wars and the outbreak of World War I, explosive shells in a naval battle,
a Russian squadron destroys 11
new technology transformed naval warfare. Sail gave way to steam, wooden hulls Turkish ships at the Battle of
were superseded by metal ones, and high-explosive shells replaced cannonballs. Sinope, during the Crimean War.
◼ 1897 The US Navy adopts
The sailing ship navies of Nelson’s era (see p.196) success during the Crimean War (1853–56), fought the first successful powered
did not disappear overnight; at first, steamships between Russia and the allied forces of Britain, submarine, designed by Irish-
were only viable in coastal and inland waters. Their France, the Ottoman Empire, and Kingdom of American John Holland.
large paddlewheels limited the space available for Sardinia. In 1859, France built the first ironclad ◼ 1904 Japanese destroyers
gunports and were vulnerable to enemy fire, but battleship, La Gloire, which was matched by the armed with Whitehead torpedoes
steamships had the clear advantage of being able British HMS Warrior the following year. make a surprise attack on the
Russian fleet at Port Arthur.
to maneuver at will, even in a dead calm. The The American Civil War began in 1861. The
Y introduction, in the 1840s, of screw propellers as Confederates rebuilt an existing ship as the ironclad ◼ 1911 Britain’s Royal Navy
INDUSTR of steam engines as a standard feature of warships, radical new design, the USS Monitor—a metal raft Elizabeth-class battleships will
decides that its new Queen
CSS Virginia, while their opponents sponsored a
an alternative to paddlewheels led to the adoption
use oil as fuel, instead of coal.
although initially as an auxiliary to the sails.
equipped with two Dahlgren guns in a rotating
turret. At the Battle of Hampton Roads, in March
RISE OF THE IRONCLAD
frigates with frightening ease, but then fought a
The 1840s also saw the Paixhans gun revolutionize 1862, CSS Virginia sank two conventional Union ▼ METAL AGAINST METAL
In 1864, during the American Civil
naval armament: it was the first naval gun designed stalemated duel with USS Monitor in what was to War, Union admiral David Farragut
to fire explosive shells instead of solid shot. In be the first battle between two ironclad steamships. penetrated Confederate-held Mobile
response, during the 1850s, some wooden-hulled Experiments with ironclad ships continued Bay with a squadron of metal monitors
ships were armored with thick iron plate above throughout the Civil War: the Union forces built and wooden ships. One monitor was
sunk by a mine, but Farragut disabled
the waterline. These ironclad ships were deemed a more monitors (named after the original), as well the Confederate ironclad CSS Tennessee.